Internal combustion engines of a vehicle may use internal plates or baffles to block or redirect fluids.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,235 describes a system for an oil pan of an internal combustion engine. The system includes one or more guide plates that may be coupled to one internal side surface of the oil pan. The guide plates collect oil splashed towards the internal side surface and return the oil to the oil pan. Therefore, oil kicked out by the crankshaft can be returned to the suction device.
The inventors herein have recognized various issues with the above system. In particular, the guide plates do not collect oil on all side surfaces of the oil pan. Therefore, oil splashed to other internal side surfaces may not be effectively returned to the oil pan. For example, oil may creep up other internal side surfaces due to extreme vehicle maneuvers that can occur in various directions, as opposed to the single rotational direction of the crankshaft.
As such, one example approach to address the above issues is to provide a spacer that can displace oil that splashes or creeps up each internal side surface back to a suction device. In this way, it is possible to maintain oil in the oil pan near the pick-up location. Specifically, the spacer may displace and direct oil such that it is concentrated within a suction region of the oil pan. This configuration enables the pickup tube to maintain proper fluidic communication with the oil, even during sustained extreme vehicle maneuvers. Further, by taking advantage of concentrating oil within the suction region, the prevalence of air bubbles distributed throughout the oil delivery system can be reduced.
Note that various spacer geometric configurations may be employed to maintain fluidic communication between the pickup tube and the oil. Further, various baffle plates may be additionally included to direct oil towards the suction region, if desired.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.